Information for Departments

About ACA

Effective January 1, 2015, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA) requires large employers (50 or more employees) such as the University of Delaware, to offer health insurance benefits to any employee averaging 30 work hours or more per week. This requirement is often referred to as the “employer mandate” of the ACA. Although this portion of the law does not take effect until January 1, 2015, the “Measurement Period” that will be utilized to determine employee eligibility for employer-sponsored health insurance benefits begins July 1st, 2014. More details about the measurement period are provided below.

System Changes

In order to meet ACA and Federal guidelines, all variable hour employees (described below) will need to be converted to be able to clock in and out using UDTime by July 1, 2014.

Variable Hour Employees

Non-benefits-eligible employees do not receive a health benefits package from the University of Delaware, and most represent a short-term population of employees who do not work 30 hours or more per week.

To ensure compliance with ACA requirements, it is essential for departments or units to monitor the employment of and hours worked by variable hour employees.

Determining Eligibility

The ACA provides the following method to determine if a variable hour employee has reached the 30-hour per week threshold and should be offered health insurance:

For existing "variable hour" employees (active as of July 1, 2014):

The University of Delaware will “look back” at a 12-month Standard Measurement Period to determine whether an employee AVERAGED 30 work hours per week.

The Standard Measurement Period will be April 1st – March 31st each year. The first measurement period begins on July 1st, 2014 and ends March 31st 2015.

If an employee works an average of 30 hours or more per week during the measurement period, he/she must be offered employer-sponsored health care for a period of time in the future known as the Stability Period. The employee continues to receive employer-sponsored healthcare regardless of hours worked during the stability period.

The Standard Stability Period will be July 1st - June 30th each year.The first stability period begins on July 1st, 2015 and ends June 30th, 2016.

There is a Standard Administrative Period between the Standard Measurement and Stability Periods. This is when Human Resources will determine and notify employees who have become eligible for employer-sponsored benefits and when these eligible employees will enroll for a July 1st effective date.

The Standard Administrative Period will be April 1st - June 30th each year.The first Standard Administrative Period begins on April 1st, 2015 and ends June 30th, 2015.

For new variable hour employees (hired after July 1, 2014):

Each new employee will have an individual 12-month Initial Measurement Period that begins on the date of hire. The following April 1st, the new employee will be included in the Standard Measurement Period for existing employees, as described above.

The Initial Administrative Period is one month and starts after the Initial Measurement Period end date.

If employees work an average of 30 hours or more during the Initial Measurement Period, they must be offered employer-sponsored benefits for a 12 months period called the initial Stability Period which begins immediately after the Initial Administrative Period end date.

For a calendar of the measurement periods, administrative periods, and stability periods for existing and new employees, click here.

Important Notes:

If rehires have a break of service of less than 6 months, they will be considered existing "variable hour" employees.

If the break of employment is more than 4 weeks but less than 6 months, the university will use the average weekly hours (prior to the break in employment) as their total imputedweekly hours (up to 501 hours) for each week during that period.